Business View Caribbean - November 2014 7
Editor’s
Note
Welcome to the November issue of Business View
Caribbean, the magazine version of a burgeoning
multi-platform presence that also includes Facebook
(Business View Magazine), Twitter (@BizViewMag)
and LinkedIn (Business View Publishing).
Taking front and center stage this month is an in-
depth feature piece on one of the most successful
companies in the dual-island nation of Trinidad & To-
bago – the entity now known as Lifetime Solutions
– which continues to build on its reputation as the
region’s go-to source for metal roofing and flat-roof
waterproofing expertise.
The company got its start as Lifetime Roofing Ltd. in
1985 and opened for business as a manufacturer
and installer of products for both steep-slope and
flat-roof applications. Subsequent expansion took
place to provide downstream roofing-related items
pertaining to related functions like guttering, insula-
tion, soffits and steel fabrication.
The acquisition of Trinidad Asphalt & Metal Roofing
Ltd. in 2012 meant the addition of a flat-roof water-
proofing portfolio with more than 30 years of domes-
tic and regional project work.
A recent investment was made to purchase an up-
graded lightweight insulating concrete machine to
replace an older version, and CEO Deborah Costelloe
said plans are in the works that may clear the way for
an expansion to the 100,000 square feet of manu-
facturing the company now possesses.
“A new plant and new equipment are always on the
horizon,” she said. “Those are some of the things we
plan to do to maintain our position in the market.”
Doing business in its home territory is not without
unique challenges, Costelloe said, items that include
consistent access to a skilled workforce and the real-
ity that the company’s major suppliers are overseas,
which creates additional necessities that operations
in less-remote locations aren’t forced to handle.
“We are required to hold large inventories of stock,”
she said. “In the U.K. or the U.S., roofing companies
would not have to do that because they have access
very quickly to a lot of suppliers. They wouldn’t have
to typically hold the stock themselves. A roofing com-
pany here in Trinidad & Tobago needs to be able to
carry large volumes of stock.”
Check out the Lifetime Solutions piece as well as
other feature stories in this month’s issue, alongside
supplemental content in the form of Top 10 lists,
the Opening Lines section and the inaugural edition
of our end-of-magazine feature – “Exit Interview” –
which will include snippets from one of the month’s
best interview conversations.
Please feel free to contact me with any comments
or critiques, as well as suggestions for ways we can
continue to provide a publication that’s pertinent,
educational and entertaining.
Until next month…
Regards,
Lyle Fitzsimmons
Vice President, Editorial
Business View Magazine
